Study Hall

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Helping The Story Shine Through: Behind The Scenes With A Production Of West Side Story

Working with wireless RF, microphone placement, on-stage sound effects and a full orchestra at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.

Last-Minute Change

I put in a “Hail Mary” call to the folks at Point Source Audio in California to explain the problem I was having, and 18 hours later, a box containing three of the company’s CO-8WL lavalier omni microphones arrived on my doorstep. I drove up to the theater early, miked myself up, went to my console at FOH, and started talking.

As soon as I heard myself through the PA, I actually said “Wow!” out loud. My voice sounded incredibly clear, even in front of the PA, and I was able to reduce the channel EQ to almost nothing. I stood onstage and screamed some lines from the show, with no audible distortion.

Normally, swapping three lead characters to a completely different mic without rehearsal would be inadvisable to say the least, but I felt confident enough in the improvements to give it a shot. I’d reserved a few extra minutes with the stage manager to do some tweaking during sound check, but I didn’t end up needing it.

Small but mighty: the Point Source Audio CO-8WL.

During the performance, the CO-8’s performed admirably, staying far more linear during the loudest yelling passages. The mics’ higher SPL rating allowed me to revert to the closer placement, achieving a cleaner sound with much less bleed during the show’s quietest moments. I was able to push the level of Maria’s closing monologue, allowing her emotional performance to really shine through.

Several members of the creative team visited the mix position to mention how much better it sounded, and the actor who played Tony came running up to shake my hand after the performance, saying “Wow! This microphone!” There’s no foldback in the show, so the fact that he perceived such an improvement just by hearing what was bouncing off the back wall of the theater is high praise indeed.

A friend of mine who’s an experienced professional musician attended the show and afterwards told me, “That’s the cleanest dialogue delivery I’ve ever heard.”

The Right Path

As engineers, we’re trained to listen critically and to pay attention to small details that many people might miss altogether, so it’s easy to worry disproportionately about minutiae. But when set designers and stage managers remark on the improvement, you know you’re really on the right path.

A huge thanks to Point Source Audio for their gracious assistance in making this show sound incredible. For me, this show was equal parts teaching experience, learning experience, and a great opportunity to exercise some artistic expression.

After the countless hours of planning, preparation, programming and rehearsing that my team and I spent doing our small part in bringing this complicated production to life, it was a beautiful moment when all the tech became invisible and the story came shining through.

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Celebrating over 50 years of audio excellence worldwide, Audio-Technica is a leading innovator in transducer technology, renowned for the design and manufacture of microphones, wireless microphones, headphones, mixers, and electronics for the audio industry.